Skip to main content

Highest ocean heat in four centuries places Great Barrier Reef in danger

NEWS - Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is facing critical danger from back-to-back extreme ocean heatwaves. The latest 400-year temperature record shows the ecosystem is facing catastrophic damage as warming sea temperatures and mass coral bleaching events threaten to devastate the ecology, biodiversity and beauty of the world’s largest coral reef.

Highest ocean heat in four centuries places Great Barrier Reef in danger 1


Ocean temperatures in the Coral Sea are at their highest in four centuries. Researchers drilled into coral skeletons from within and around them to analyse the chemical makeup of the samples to reconstruct sea surface temperatures from 1618 to 1995, alongside modern instrumental sea level measurements spanning 1900 to 2024.

Ocean temperatures in the region were relatively stable before 1900, but from 1960 to 2024 they have been rising relentlessly. The increase is linked to human greenhouse gas emissions, the team found. The years 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and 2024 were all warmest on record, with temperatures up to 1C warmer than average. Every year, mass bleaching events occur during the warmest months of January to March.

“The Great Barrier Reef is an icon,” says Benjamin Henley of the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Highest ocean heat in four centuries places Great Barrier Reef in danger 2


Global warming threatens up to 90 percent of the world’s coral reefs. UNESCO designated the reef a World Heritage Site in 1981. The UN agency had considered adding the reef to its World Heritage in Danger list. In 2023, UNESCO delayed the move because of the Australian government’s pledge to improve protection.

“The more emissions we reduce now, the better it will be not just for the Great Barrier Reef, but for society,” says Helen McGregor of the University of Wollongong in Australia.

Original research

Henley, B.J., McGregor, H.V., King, A.D. et al. Highest ocean heat in four centuries places Great Barrier Reef in danger. Nature 632, 320–326 (2024). DOI:10.1038/s41586-024-07672-x

Popular Posts

Telotaun (Manihot carthagenensis)

Telotaun ( Manihot carthagenensis ) is a plant species in Euphorbiaceae, trees or shrubs 2-10 m tall, erect and fibrous, white latex, leaves varying with the subspecies noted are Manihot carthagenensis ssp. carthagenensis , Manihot carthagenensis ssp. glaziovii and Manihot carthagenensis ssp. hahnii . M. carthagenensis has an erect stem, a tubular shape, a young stem which is bright green and covered in white wax, an old stem that has a thin layer of brown skin. Long leaf stems and white waxy, arranged alternately, growing in all directions, green on the bottom and redish on the top. Leaves have 3-7 fingers each up to 25 cm long and up to 15 cm wide, ellipses become obovoid, sometimes pandurate and apex acute. Each leaf finger has a bone in the middle that moves linearly with some pinnate bones. The upper surface is green and slightly shiny, the lower surface is whitish green. The base of the leaf is centered at the end of the stalk, the pointed end which ends at the head of the sp...

Giant green leech (Raksasa hijau)

Lintah raksasa or giant green leech ( Raksasa hijau ) is a species of animal in Salifidae, large green leeches, carnivores, not hematophagic, can grow to lengths of more than 50 cm, the front is perfectly tubular, but it is getting bigger, wider and flat backward. R. hijau has a front end that ends with a white mouth and has a width equal to the diameter of the front end of the body. The rear end ends with the anus and has a width equal to the diameter of the rear end of the body. The upper surface is whole dark green or leafy green, looks shiny and has no other additional color features. The bottom surface is lighter or brownish green. The skin is wrinkled like tight, elastic joints that make it possible to lengthen the body. Giant green leech moves forward by extending the tip of the front of the body to keep the new location farther away and this movement is then followed by the middle body and gradually the rear where the body moves completely. R. hijau does not suck blo...

Purwaceng (Pimpinella pruatjan)

Purwaceng or purwoceng or antanan gunung or Viagra of Java ( Pimpinella pruatjan or Pimpinella priatjan ) are small termas growing horizontally in Apiaceae, growing in villages on Dieng Plateau, Central Java Province, Indonesia, at 1,500 to 2,000 meters above sea level, the roots have medicinal properties for aphrodisiacs and are usually processed in powder form for a mixture of coffee or milk. P. pruatjan grows flat on the ground but does not propagate, small leaves are reddish green for 1-3 cm in diameter. This plant is only found in Java and grows in high mountain areas. A low population where industrial demand is very high results in increasingly scarce. Another place that is likely to become a purwaceng habitat is the Iyang Mountains and the Tengger Mountains in East Java Province. Efforts to multiply and cultivate have a big problem where these plants have difficulty producing seeds. In vitro propagation research through tissue cultivation has been carried out to overcome ...